Pluripotent cells can differentiate into various cell lineages and therefore are useful for treating various degenerative or inherited diseases. Among the pluripotent cells, embryonic stem (ES) cells are believed to hold a great promise. Nonetheless, ethical considerations have hampered the use of human ES cells in research and therapy. Pluripotent cells of non-embryonic origin would circumvent this obstacle. Examples of such non-ES pluripotent cells include adult bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells or stromal cells (Sanchez-Ramos et al., 2000, Exp. Neurol., 164(2):247-256 and Woodbury et al., 2000, J. Neurosci. Res., 61(4):364-370) and umbilical cord blood cells (Galvin-Parton et al., 2003, Pediatr. Transplant. 2003; 7(2):83-85 and Ha et al., 2001 Neuroreport., 2(16):3523-3527). Nonetheless, requirements for in vitro expansion and HLA-matching have limited clinical applications of these cells. Thus, there is a need for alternative pluripotent cells.